What it Means to Live
by palazard95
Summary: A story of discovering what living really means. While teaching Yui how to live in the real world, Kirito thinks back to the time he and Asuna spent in Aincrad after they died on the 75th floor.
1. Preperations

January 2027, Kawagoe City, Kirigaya Household

Kirigaya Midori looked outside her bedroom window to see her two children in talking in their driveway. Her son, Kazuto, was pacing back in forth in front of his bike, while her daughter, Suguha, was leaning against it. Midori looked at the clock by her bed stand, reading the glowing red numbers.

" _9:45 a.m."_ she thought, _"I hope it isn't too late. Elsewise his impatience might get the better of him, and he might just get on and start driving around looking for the damn thing. Then with his luck, it'd probably show up as soon as he left."_ Midori chuckled at her musings. She closed the curtains again and made her way downstairs. After pouring herself some tea, she tied her robe and walked out to greet her children.

"… it matter what time it gets here. You won't even be able to use it for another few weeks," she heard Sugu finish as she walked out. Her son looked like he was about to rebuttal, but the sound of an engine from up the street caught his attention. Midori followed his gaze towards the sound, only to see the back of a truck as it passed their street.

"You should listen to your sister, Kazuto. You getting worked up like this isn't going to make the delivery come any faster," Midori wisely said.

"I know, I know," he sighed, before falling back into the grass. "It's just that I'm running low on time now, and I want to make sure everything is ready for her, you know?"

"You have plenty of time, bro. She won't be here for weeks still. Mom and I are just as excited but you don't see us acting like we only have an hour," Sugu pointed out. Kazuto slumped forward, his arms resting on his legs. He let out a long breath before looking up at his sister.

"You guys are right, I know. It just feels so close, and I'm not sure I'm ready yet," her son lamented.

"Oh, hush. All you've been talking about for months now has been how you're going to do this, and how she's going to be like that. I mean really Kazuto, you're probably more prepared than I was to take you in," Midori said, laughing at her son's worries.

Kazuto groaned and fell back into the grass. He covered his head with an arm as Midori and Sugu began to start laughing at him. They only laughed for a moment before being interrupted by the sound of a diesel engine coming up the street. The laughing died down as Kazuto sat up, all three looking towards the noise.

Around the corner of the street, a large black truck pulls up the street, slowing as it approached the Kirigaya household. Midori could make out K.C.S.F. on the side before it finished its turn. Her son leaped onto his feet running towards the end of their driveway, as the truck moved to a stop in front of the house. Midori walked towards her son, seeing an older man hop out of the driver's seat.

"Kirigaya Midori?" he asked looking down at his clipboard when he made it to the driveway.

"That's me," she responded, and reached her arm out towards the man. He handed her the clipboard and a black pen. She signed where he instructed, and handed it back.

"You mind giving me a hand young man?" He asked Kazuto.

"Not at all, Sir. Lead the way."

The two disappeared behind the truck. She heard the sound of the back door opening and the two climbing in. She grinned, knowing how happy and excited her son was to be getting almost everything ready after all this time. As she walked back into her home, leaving the door open for her son and the delivery man, Midori admitted to herself that she's a little excited too.

She took a peek into her, now former, guest room, seeing the bed, the only piece of furniture that remained, leaning against the wall of the room. The room was small, with only a tiny empty closet and two windows. She took a sip of her tea and walked into the room.

She wasn't in here too often, only to dust or to clean up before or after a guest stayed. Still every time she walked in, it was like a trip down memory lane, and though she didn't know it today was no exception. She walked towards the closet, peeking in to make sure nothing was going to get lost after Kazuto began loading stuff into it.

She quickly scanned the closet, and was about to close it when something caught her eye. Something small and blue was sitting behind the door. She poked her head in a little further and saw a little lump of blue cloth leaning against the wall. She set her tea down for a moment and reached in for it. When she pulled it out. It was one of Kazuto's old toys, a light blue dragon puppet. She smiled deeply remembering how much he had loved it.

November 2011, Kawagoe City, Kirigaya Household

 _Midori walked into the nursery holding Suguha, and saw her husband, Minetaka, playing with their nephew, Kazuto. No wait, not her nephew, her son. He was hers now. Minetaka was sitting on the floor with Kazuto across from him. He had a little puppet on his hand, in the shape of a Samurai, while Minetaka had on a blue dragon puppet._

" _Grr, fear my fiery breath Kirito!" her husband said in a mock scary voice._

" _Never, Whitefang! A true swordsman has no fear, specially from a weak monster like you," her new son responded. The two started clashing puppets making noises with their mouths to sound like swords clashing and dragon roars._

January 2027, Kawagoe City, Kirigaya Household

Midori smiled at the puppet again, and stuffed it in her robe puppet. This room had housed both of her kids, only being empty since her father passed and Sugu took his room. It'll be weird to have someone living in here again. Although, it'll probably be the same as when Kazuto was first brought here. Sure she's a bit older, and apparently a lot more mature, but it's close enough.

Despite never actually having met the girl, she did feel like she already knew her form her son's stories. The thought of actually meeting her, as well as housing her, had still been almost like a fantasy to her and Kazuto, but now that she was having all of Sugu's old furniture brought back from storage, it started to feel a lot more real.

She walked back into her room, and finished getting dressed into more comfortable, and functional, clothes. When she was finally satisfied with her looks, she made her way to their family room, to see her son waving goodbye to the man. She looked around and saw that her family room was now filled with old cardboard boxes. Kazuto closed the door, and turned around to face them again, a determined look on his face.

"Alright, guys. Here's the plan. I'm going to start moving the actual furniture into the room. Mom, would you start bringing in toys and decorations? You know things to put on the shelves and walls," Kazuto said to her.

"No problem, happy to," she responded and started looking for the boxes marked _Sugu toys_.

"What about me, Kazuto?" asked Sugu.

"I want you to go through your old clothes. I need you to clear out the toddler clothes. After that, would you split up the remaining clothes, bring the winter clothes into the room. The rest just put back into the boxes, and then bring them in." Kazuto clapped his hands together and started sliding the box labeled dresser into the hallway.

"Oh, why do I get the boring job?" Sugu complained, once Kazuto was out of earshot.

"It's not meant to be boring, Sugu. Just think, you get to be the one that picks out most of your niece's outfits. You're the only girl we know who can do it, because you're the only one he knows won't tell Asuna," Midori pointed out.

Sugu sighed. "Fine, you have a point. I guess it is flattering that he trusts me with this part."

"Well actually, it was my idea. Kazuto wanted to do it all himself, but you know how he is. He would have only kept the really dark clothes that match his own. I didn't want my first grandchild to only wear black, gray, and blue," laughed Midori.

"Well that's fair enough," Sugu admitted, kneeling down to work on the first box, "plus, this may actually be kinda fun." A new look of determination crossed her daughter's face suddenly. "With Aunt Sugu on the job, Yui will always be the best dressed kid in town!"

* * *

Kazuto stood in the doorway of Yui's future room. He'd just finished moving the boxes of clothes his sister had sorted into the closet, and finally felt finished with his project. The last three days he'd spent the vast majority of his free time in here, furnishing, decorating, and just preparing. Finally, with some guidance from his mom, he was satisfied with his work.

The walls were white, just like the rest of the rooms, and he had put up large dandelion silhouette stickers on the right wall, one almost green, two pink and two purple. Between the green and the rest, her bed was against the wall. Past the silhouettes was a short bookshelf, holding books of all different levels, from Mother Goose to The Hobbit. On the far wall was a white chest with a padded lid. He had placed some of his sister's old toys on top. The left wall had her closet in it, as well as a white dresser to its left. A little cushioned rocking chair sat along the wall to the right of the doorway next to the bookshelf. The room was completed by a large purple rug in the center.

Kazuto smiled to himself again. Turning around, he shut off the light and pulled the door closed, locking it behind him. He made his way back to his own room to start up his computer.

Not long after booting it up, while connecting his amusphere, he heard the familiar _Ding_ of his computer alerting of a new email. Setting the headset down, he sat himself down again and clicked on the notification.

 _ **1 new Email:**_

 _ **Yuuki.S**_

 _ **Subject: RE: Happy Birthday**_

Kazuto recognized the address as that of Yuuki Shouzou, Asuna's father. The subject was their code for anything relating to Yui's "birth." Nothing was actually left to be done for now, until the big day actually came. _"What could he want?"_ Fearing something had gone wrong, Kazuto clicked it open.

 **Kazuto,**

 **With the big day drawing closer and closer, our American friend has some things he wants to go over with you. He has some of the answers you were wondering about, specifically about what to do with the present afterwards. It's not anything too bad, just some warnings. Now I know you might be thinking that I could have sent these to you, and I could, but, he says that the present is ready to be inspected, so he's brought it here ahead of time. It's awaiting the big day, and is completely finished expanding. He says you will be very satisfied. If you would meet me at my house between 14:30 and 15:30 tomorrow, I would like to take you to see it.**

 **Yuuki Shouzou**

He couldn't believe his eyes. She was here? In Kawagoe? He read it over again, picking up the details. From the code words, he managed to decipher that Yui's body had finished growing ahead of time, and Mr. Yuuki's American colleague, Dr. Shepherd, had brought her here already, with some extra information he'd collected after growing the body. He quickly went to his keyboard and sent a response, saying he'll be there.

* * *

The two of them arrived around 3 p.m. Mr. Yuuki had spent most of the trip telling Kazuto about what Asuna and Kyouko had been up to in Tokyo, on their mother daughter bonding trip, that he had insisted on. Kazuto pretended to listen, not really paying attention. Asuna had been telling him about how much she was wishing she wasn't there since she had left a week ago, but he didn't want Mr. Yuuki to know that. Besides, he was way too distracted. He was going to get to see Yui's future body for the first time in just a few minutes, and all his mind was capable of now was preparing himself for that.

"Any way, Dr. Shepherd is upstairs with the body. Uhm, you speak English right?" Mr. Yuuki asked Kazuto.

"Huh? Oh yeah," he responded, getting out of the car.

"Oh good thing. I feel it'd be a little awkward having to act as a relay between the two of you," he chuckled. The two walked through the doors into the hospital, the same hospital Asuna had been kept in while in SAO. Apparently, it'd been outfitted with some high-end VR gear to help support the imprisoned players, making it an ideal location for the process of bringing Yui here.

Mr. Yuuki escorted him to an elevator leading upstairs. As they got out, Kazuto realized the hallway was the same one Asuna had been in.

"By now, I'm sure you've realized that we're heading towards the same room Asuna had been kept. It seemed a little poetic that we keep the body here, make it seem almost as if she was born here," Mr. Yuuki said.

"Yeah, I can see that, I guess," responded Kazuto. Now knowing exactly where they were headed, he looked ahead towards the room he had first "met" Asuna in. Standing in front of the door was a caucasian male doctor, a clipboard in his hands. As they approached, Mr. Yuuki stepped forward.

"Ah, Dr. Shepherd," he began in English and bowed to the doctor, "This young man is Kirigaya Kazuto."

"Nice to meet you," Kazuto said, bowing to him as well. They each received a bow back, clearly done by one who's not had to bow very often.

"Hello Kazuto. My name is Alex. I've heard a lot about you young man, including your part in saving all those poor victims of the SAO incident. Anyway, I know you aren't here to hear praises about your accomplishments. You're here to see her," Dr. Shepherd said, smiling at him.

"Yes sir, thank you," H=he responded, a huge smile stretching across his mouth.

"Well let's get to that first. We can go over the details afterwards. Follow me," he said, waving Kazuto over. Kazuto looked at Mr. Yuuki who gave him a "go ahead" wave of the hand. Kazuto nodded and ran over to Dr. Shepherd. He waited for him to open the door, and followed him in.

The room was illuminated by the sun still, and he could hear the sounds of life support machines beeping and pressing out air. The bed in the room was currently surrounded by a curtain, and he could see a silhouette behind it. Dr. Shepherd walked towards the curtain, disappearing behind it, while pulling out his stethoscope. After a moment, he heard, "It's all right, Kazuto. You can come in."

His feet took a moment to respond as he began walking forward. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster as he approached the curtain. He grasped the curtain, took a deep breath, and pushed it away. Walking through, Dr. Shepherd stepped aside, and Kazuto saw his daughter's face in the real world for the first time.

* * *

 **Hey, Thanks for taking the time to read my story. This is, hopefully, going to be my first real attempt at creative writing. I have a couple more chapters ready to be written, and will be posting them in the coming week or so. If you like what you are reading, let me know, and I'll keep writing after those. If you don't definitely let me know. I could use all the constructive criticism I can get.**


	2. Tell me about Yui

Her hair was a little darker and shorter. _"While she might not mind her hair darkening, she's not going to be happy about her hair being short,"_ thought Kazuto. It was now as black as his, with it going to halfway down her back. She'd always been a fan of her hair flowing all the way down her back, but he was sure she'd get over that soon.

There was something else about her. Her features were softer, and she was smaller than he expected. Any time he'd been near her in the virtual world, Yui had always almost come up to his shoulders. Here, though, her feet didn't even come close to the edge of the bed.

"Why is she still so small?" He asked Dr. Shepherd.

"The food supplements we've been giving to her via life support are enough to keep her alive, but not enough to build up muscles or any sort of fat. Until she starts eating, she'll be skinny as a twig.

Her arms were twigs. That didn't surprise him. When he had woken up, he was all skin and bones. It made sense that a body that'd never gotten exercise would be in a similar state, but it was more than just being skinny.

"That's not what I meant. Yui is taller than that, and her fingers are longer. In game, she stands almost as tall as my shoulder. Now, I doubt she's reach my elbows. Is something wrong? Is that what you needed to talk to me about?" Kazuto asked, growing more and more concerned.

"Hm? Oh no, no no no no no. She's perfectly fine. She's simply younger than you believed she'd be. In order for the operation to work, we needed her brain to grow around the implant before its battery ran out, so we had to use a more accelerated hormonal growth treatment," he explained.

"Accelerated? Wouldn't that mean she'd be older than we thought?"

"It would, if we kept it up. Once the implant had successfully connected to her brain's electrical signals, there was only a limited amount of time before her body would give out from the unnaturally fast growth. That's the last thing we wanted so we decided to stop all growth hormone production entirely, so that she can recover and catch up. Do you understand?"

"I think so. So we have to wait for her natural growth to begin again? How long will that take?"

"You're partially correct, and this is what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to discuss the possibility of an earlier awakening."

"Earlier awakening? You mean bringing her into the real world early?"

"Yes, I do. We've done some tests in the past week, and the muscles are starting to break down. Without a steady supply of growth hormones or regular movement, each passing day her muscles will get smaller and weaker, even with the nutrition supplements we're providing. We'd wait, but my colleague has estimated that she won't have a steady supply of growth hormones for another year, maybe more."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that we have to transfer her to this world soon if we want her to be able to live a normal life."

"How soon is soon?" Kazuto wondered.

"Optimally? Tomorrow." Kazuto's eyes went wide. That was, that was unbelievable.

"Tomorrow!? That's, that's impossible. I just finished her bedroom yesterday. Asuna and her mom won't be back in town for almost a week still. I, I don't think I'm ready yet," Kazuto rambled.

"Well, let's see about that. There's a few questions every new parent has to answer. We ask them to make sure that a new parent is ready for taking care of their child. It's like a new parent checklist. Of course, that's designed for newborn babies, not entirely applicable to a child her size, but some of them are still good to go over. Would you like to?"

"I guess, I'm still a little unsure about it. Well let's take this step by step then. Let's go through this list, and then we'll make sure you know exactly what your decision entails. After that we'll have you make your decision. Are you alright with that?" the doctor put forward.

"Um, yeah, that should be fine," Kazuto responded.

Doctor Shepherd smiled, and took a seat next to the window. He motioned for Kazuto to do the same, towards the chair next to himself. Kazuto, instead, decided to take a seat on the bed next to Yui's body.

"Alright, Doc, Let's do this!" Kazuto said, feeling stronger now.

"O.K. First, do you have a safe place for her to stay on a regular or permanent basis?" Dr. Shepherd began.

"Yeah, I finished setting up her room at my family's house yesterday. She's got a twin sized bed and enough differently sized clothes to last her until she's ten."

"Oh good. Follow-up, is the bed railed?"

"Railed?" Kazuto repeated.

"As-in does the bed have a pull-up side rail?"

"No, why would it?"

"They're designed to keep toddlers and young children from falling out of their beds at night. Yui's body will be unfamiliar to her, as will actual dreams, I imagine. Tossing and turning at night would not be unexpected. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem for a child her size, but as we discussed before…"

"She's going to be frail and weak at first," Kazuto finished, understanding. "I'll go out and buy some when we're done here."

"Perfect. Next…"

It continued on for a while, asking about state of home, income, safety procedures, winter clothes, and whether or not he had a car seat. _"Note, I have to grab one for both my mom's car and for my bike, when she's a bit stronger,"_ he thought.

"Lastly, I must advise that you don't feed her solid food for at least 3 days. Even then, only ween her onto solid food gradually. The body's been living on liquid nourishment since it was created, and going cold turkey on that is not a good idea. Understand?"

"Yeah, I think I got it all," Kazuto answered, looking down at the notepad he'd been handed halfway through the checklist.

"Now that that's finished, I have to ask. Are you ready and willing to take bring her to this world tomorrow?" asked the doc.

"This is really what's best for her?" Kazuto asked, needing a little more assurance.

"Yes, if we do this tomorrow, she'll have the best chance at living a normal life. After about 10 months, she'll have a normal supply of growth hormones again, and begin to grow and age once more. By then, most of her bones and muscles should be at a healthy level as well."

"Right. Well, then yes. Let's do it!"

* * *

He got home at around 8. Mr. Yuuki had given him a ride to pick up the extra supplies Dr. Shepherd had suggested. The lights were off when he walked in, so he called out, "Mom? Sugu? You here? I've got something I need to talk to you about." He saw a light come in in the kitchen, and saw his mother walking into it, with Sugu in tail.

"Kazuto? Where have you been all day? And what's that?" His mother curiously asked.

"Some extra supplies and a guard rail for Yui's bed. Dr. Shepherd suggested I get one for her," he answered.

"Dr. Who?" questioned his sister.

"Dr. Shepherd. He's the American doctor that works with Asuna's Dad's Company's sister company. He's the one who's going to wake her up," he explained. He walked the new boxes into Yui's room, almost dropping some when he attempted to unlock it.

"Here, let me." Sugu took the key from his hand, opened the door, and took a couple of boxes from his hands. He followed her into the room. "Wow, good job bro, looks really cute."

"Thanks." He set the boxes down and proceeded to begin setting up the rail. He heard his mom walk in after a moment.

"Oh, Kazuto, this room is great. It looks even better than when your guys' dad did it." She had a huge smile across her face. "Oh, I can't wait until she gets here next month now." Kazuto stopped what he was doing, and stood up.

"Yeah, about that…" he began, avoiding eye contact with the girls, "That's actually what I need to talk to you about. Mom, you may want to have a seat." He looked up to see a worried look cross his mother's face, as she began to walk towards Yui's bed. Sugu walked over and took a seat next to her.

"Alright, how do I say this," he wondered, out loud. He began to pace in front of them with his hands behind his back.

"Kazuto, You alright?" Sugu asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Then stop pacing!" she demanded.

He looked at her, and sighed, following her demand. "Ok, so, the thing is, um…" he trailed off.

"It's ok, Kazuto. You can tell us anything," his mother encouraged.

"You're right, I know you're right." He took one more deep breath, and exhaled with a new determination. "O.K. so I told you that I was going with Mr. Yuuki because his colleague had brought Yui's body here early right?" He waited for their confirmation. "Well, it turns out that he brought her here early, because in their effort to ensure that her A.I. can be moved over…" he began explaining everything he had been told that day. He told them of everything from what had happened with the accelerated growth, to her different appearance, to the checklist Dr. Shepherd had gone over with him. Finally he dropped the bombshell.

"…wake her up tomorrow," he finished. He held his arms up in front of his face, bracing for the rage the girls in his family were known for having, but it never came. He looked past his arms, and saw his sister sitting wide eyed, and his mother, she had a huge grin growing across her face.

"You're, you're not mad?" he asked, surprised.

"Mad? Of course not. While, I'll admit that tomorrow isn't vey convenient, if you're ready, which you are, then I don't see why not. Besides, we're here to help you remember, except" his mother said, getting cut off.

"What really? Great! Oh, that's such a relief to hear. Asuna won't get back for another 5 days, so I was worried about taking care of her by myself," he interrupted.

"EXCEPT," she continued, more forcefully, "that your sister has her Kendo regional championship the next day in Shizuoka. Meaning, I have to take her tomorrow night. You'll have us for a few hours, but you'll be alone for the first night, and most of the next day." Kazuto sucked in a gulp of air. He couldn't believe himself. He'd been so concerned with Yui that he'd completely forgot about Sugu's competition. How awful of a brother was he?

"No mom, this is more important. Yui will only get to have one first night here, and I'll be able to try again next year," said Sugu.

"Are you sure, Sugu?" their mother asked.

"Yeah, I'm…"

"No!" Kazuto interrupted again, "I need to learn to take care of her myself. I appreciate the offer Sugu, really, but I think that if I don't dive right in, then I won't be able to do it down the road. Asuna won't be living with me for a long time yet, there's going to be days that it'll just be me and her, tomorrow will just be the first."

"Kazuto, I'm not sure that's a good idea. Maybe you should just call Asuna, have her come home early, and help you," his mother put forward.

"Yeah, no offense bro, but you're not exactly Mr. Mom. If you won't let us stay, then you should have her here," Sugu added in.

"No, I can do this, I'm sure I can," he claimed, his voice wavering a bit on sure, "Plus, Asuna is finally spending time with her Mom, and she tells me that she thinks she's getting through to her.

"And I may not be Mr. Mom, but I am a Dad. I've been one since I first found her in the woods. Plus, she's a smart girl. Anything I don't know, I bet she will." The girls shared a look with each other, neither one believing that he could do what he claimed.

* * *

Asuna looked down at her phone again. She had texted Kirito over an hour ago, and still hadn't heard back. This was unusual, as unless he was driving somewhere, she always answered within a few minutes. She looked up from the table she was sitting at, and saw her mother walking back towards their table. In a much practiced motion, she slid her phone back under the table, and into her bag.

"I spoke with a manager, he apologized for the wait, and said that we'd have our breakfast as soon as possible. Who suggested this place to you again?" her mother demanded.

"Rika, ma'am. She told me that she always comes to this café when she visits Tokyo. The cinnamon rolls are supposed to be very good," Asuna answered.

"Well, I'll have to remember that she must have an extraordinary amount of patience, if she can stand this god-awful wait time," her mom complained.

"Mom, it hasn't been that long. Besides, the food will more than make up for the wait. Besides, we're here to reconnect, not to eat, remember?" Asuna said, attempting to change the subject.

"Hm, I suppose you're right. Now, your father wanted me to ask about your time in the game, so I can better understand what's gotten into you, and so that you can get it off your chest."

"Really? You're actually going to listen to me talk about SAO?"

"I suppose. Your father has mentioned that, for some bizarre reason, I should ask about somebody named Yui. He said that she's someone I should know about."

Asuna's eyes went wide, and she had to take a moment to collect herself. _"What?! How does Dad know about Yui? How much does he know? Does he know who she is to me? If he does, what would possess him to tell mom to ask me about her?"_ The questions just kept piling up inside her head. She tried to speak, but she just couldn't find any words that she thought would help this expression.

Her mom looked at her with an interested gaze. "Well, judging by your expression, it seems that your father was right to suggest it. Now, who exactly is she?"

She finally found her voice. "It's kind of hard to explain. It's, she's, complicated," Asuna gave.

"Collect yourself, Asuna. It cannot be that complicated. Now explain."

Asuna took a deep breath and begun, "Ok, so, it's a long story. I have to go back a bit."

"Fine, we apparently have a while before we begin. Start where you need."

"Alright, so at around the second year, Kiri…Kazuto and I were on the 75th out of 100 floor. We followed a group of guys, who didn't know what they were getting into, to the boss room, which is the most dangerous location on each floor…" Asuna began recounting her tale. She told her mom of The Gleam Eyes, Kirito's confrontation with Heathcliff, the subsequent attack, and death of Kuradeel. By that point, she almost forgot that she was talking to her mom. She had closed her eyes, and was able to see all that she was saying

"…went back to the commander, to ask for a leave of absence. He agreed for a temporary leave, and Kirito and I left. That night we," she stopped herself. Her eyes opened and she saw her mom. Though she still had that same neutral expression she always wore, the skin around her eyes was red, and Asuna could swear that she could almost see a tear in one eye.

"We what, Asuna?" she asked, with an obvious, and almost failing, attempt to maintain her composure.

"We, got engaged."

"Engaged? To a boy like that? I understand that the two of you had gone through a lot together, but to agree to marry him? You didn't even know him, you only knew the boy he was pretending to be." Asuna could see that this surprise had knocked her mom's old self back into her. "I mean really, what were you planning on saying to your family when you got back?"

"Well, honestly, I didn't." Her mom's expression grew confused. "It'd been two years and we'd only beaten three fourths of the game. I wasn't even sure that we'd ever make it out. But we did, and that's what's counts right?" Asuna admitted.

"I suppose. And I also suppose that a virtual marriage doesn't mean a lot."

" _It meant a lot to me!"_ Asuna thought angrily.

"Now, continue."

She did. "Well, we got married and continued with our plan to take a break from the front lines." She shut her eyes again. "We went to a beautiful lake town on the lower floors, and bought this amazing cabin. We had a real life there. We had friends, and neighbors, and a home. Well after two weeks, Kirito took me on a walk into the woods by our home. There we found a little girl. The moment we got close to her, she fainted. Kirito picked her up, and we brought her to our home. She awoke the next morning, and said her name was Yui, and that was all she knew."

"A child? That's who this Yui is?" her mom interrupted, "Why did your father insist I ask you about her? That whole story, just to find a small child?"

"There's more Mother," Asuna managed to interject, before her mom could ask her anything else. "When she woke up, she was a complete blank slate. Kirito and I asked what we could do to make her more comfortable, and told her our names. She couldn't say either of them, so we told her to call us whatever was easiest for her, and she, and she, she called us Papa, and Mama, and I said 'Sure, I'm Mama.'" Asuna stopped her story, and looked at her mom.

Said Mom, had a dumbfounded look on her face, like she was incapable of believing what she just heard. Her mouth moved up and down, as if trying to speak with no voice. Asuna took this moment to continue her story.

"We took care of her for that day, and heard her mention something about being somewhere deep. We followed that clue, and began a two-week search through the different dungeons for her real parents. Through all that time, the three of us really bonded. We truly began to think of her as our daughter. It was great. No real danger to us, a loving husband, and a daughter to dote upon. Unfortunately, we didn't find any sign of Yui's family, so we moved on to searching the lowest floor in the game.

"There was a hidden dungeon down there, and we discovered who she was. We found a console, which was guarded by a hidden boss that almost killed us in 1 hit. We would have died, but Yui stepped in and deleted it.

"Turns out, she was an A.I. that was designed to counsel mentally ill players, that had been trapped by the system controlling the game. She recovered her memory, and told us who she was, and then the game deleted her." Asuna could feel herself beginning to tear up at the memory of her daughter "dying."

"But, Kirito is good with computers. He didn't accept that she was gone, so he tried hacking the console that Yui used to save us, and turned her programming into an in-game item, saved to his Nervegear. Later on, we managed to revive her, and we kept living as a family until we escaped. Every time you see me use the amusphere, it's because I'm visiting her." Asuna let out a long exhale, and opened her eyes, waiting for her mom's response.

* * *

Kazuto, Midori, and Sugu arrived at the hospital bright and early. Today was the day. The day they would bring his daughter into their world. The night before, he'd told Yui that he needed her to move herself onto his Audiovisual Bidirectional Communication Probe. She was still asleep, and he knew that they still had another hour before she woke up. The thing about A.I.s is that they have a set rest cycle. Hers was 11 to 7 every night.

The three of them made their way into the hospital and the girls followed him upstairs. He followed the signs leading him to the VRD, or Virtual Reality Department, where Dr. Shepherd told him to meet up. After a few minutes, they found the waiting room for the floor. The room was filled with men in suits, all surrounding and talking to Mr. Yuuki and a team of doctors. He recognized Dr. Shepherd at the front of them.

"Kazuto!" Mr. Yuuki called out. He waved them over, and the suited men split apart leaving a path for the Kirigayas. "Good to see you, Kazuto."

"You too, Sir. So, when are we going to get started?"

"Ah, eager it looks like. Well good, the doctors are here now, waiting for you. They're more than ready to get started." Mr. Yuuki turned to Midori. "Nice to finally meet you ma'am."

"Mr. Yuuki," she responded.

"Ah, Kazuto," Dr. Shepherd exclaimed, "Good you're here. We've got Yui all set up in the OR. We've also got a high end PC set up in the observation deck."

"Oh Good," Kazuto said, feeling more and more anxious as the seconds passed.

"Let's move then." Dr. Shepherd, and his team, began walking down the hall. Most of the suited men clapped them on the back as they walked out of the room. Kazuto followed, alone. He walked forward, and saw them all walk into a doorway marked OR. Kazuto, however, took the next door, marked OROD. He walked in, and up some stairs.

He entered what seemed like a movie theater box, with some of the seats removed. The empty space was filled with a computer that would put his battle station at home to shame. Just passed the seats and computer was a window slanted down, overlooking the operating table.

He looked through it, and saw Yui's form sleeping on the table. His heart melted at the sight. Despite this being her "birth," it still hurt him more than he cared to admit to see Yui in a hospital gown lying on an operating table. He heard an intercom come on, as home of the doctors began walking into the OR. He heard Dr. Shepherd's voice come on.

"We're ready to begin, are you?" Was he? It was a big decision, and after this there was no hypotheticals, no dreams of it, no more preparation. After this, he will be a dad. And that thought excited him.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

 **Well, here's chapter 2 guys. It's a little longer, as there was a lot of exposition that was needed. To those who left some feedback, I really appreciate it. Here's to Chapter 2!**


	3. Yui

**Hey, if you're reading this, then I thank you. I wish I had had more time to write this over the summer, but summer classes, college registration , and work all got in the way. In apology, I've added more to it than I had planned, and I hope to have more updates coming soon.**

 **Please leave any feedback you have. It motivates me to keep working. Thanks.**

* * *

He looked down at her, his heart pounding out of his chest. There she was, laying in his arms. Despite everything going on around him, he actually felt true joy. Here was this beautiful child, his child, resting in his arms again. Her eyes were beginning to flutter. He watched as Yui managed to open them, and looked right at him.

"Hey, Yui. Remember me?" he asked her. She looked right into his eyes, and he could see her begin to tear up.

"P, Papa?"

"Yeah, Yui. It's me," he responded, his own eyes beginning to fill with tears of his own again.

"Papa!" she shouted, throwing her arms around his shoulders. He held her close, not wanting to ever let go, for fear of her getting taken away again.

"Yui, you're here. You're back."

"Ahem!" he heard someone cough. It took him a moment to remember that they weren't alone, that in fact the room was filled with other people. He looked up to see many faces staring at him strangely. One man in particular looked the most confused. The man walked up to the two of them, fixing his red bandana as he walked.

"So Kirito, care to explain?" Klein asked, his eyes staring at the girl attached to him.

"Haha, guess this is kind of strange, isn't it?" he laughed, his free hand going behind his head.

"A little. The last thing I expected him to do to make up for what just happened is to give you a kid, calling you Papa."

He wasn't wrong. After what just went down with Heathcliff, err, Kayaba, he wasn't expecting any favors. So when Kayaba stopped himself from teleporting, and told them _"By the way, I've placed an item in your inventory, as a way of apologizing for accidently breaking our deal. It won't help you fight the coming battles, but it should help you recover some of your will power." He turned to them and smirked, "I'll see you on floor 100, Kirito."_

Once he left, Kirito had opened his inventory to find a new item, called the Superior Pneuma Flower. The description had read: _Custom Item for Player Kirito. Use on a heart item to restore the fallen friend._ It didn't take him but a moment to realize the only heart item he had in his inventory was Yui's Heart. Thank God for shared storage.

"So, Kirito, care to explain, I ask again, to the day dreaming swordsman."

"Oh, right. Yui?" she took her head off his shoulder, pulled back and looked at him.

"Yeah Papa?"

"Yui, this is Klein, my friend since the first day in here," he said, pointing towards the red samurai. "Klein, this is Yui. Mine and Asuna's daughter. We found her a few weeks ago wandering the woods on floor 22. We never found who she was here with. A lot happened about a week ago, but long story short, we lost her. And now Kayaba brought her back. There's more to the story than that, but that's the gist of it." He waited to see Klein's reaction, and was a little surprised to find him laughing.

"Leave it to Kirito an Asuna to find a way to have a kid in a virtual world." He kept laughing, going so far as to need to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Hey, Papa, that reminds me. Where exactly is Mama?" Yui asked, and all the laughs that the room did have, died.

"Well, Yui, you see, ah, your mom, she…" He was cut off by Klein. Thankfully, as he was beginning to tear up a bit.

"It's all right Kirito, I can explain this one. I think I have a pretty good understanding of what happened." Klein offered.

"Thanks Klein, I appreciate it." He really did. He wasn't sure he could get through the story without breaking down. Klein nodded at him, and bent down to Yui's eye level.

"Hi Yui, I'm Klein." She looked up at him, concern beginning to cross her eyes.

"Hello Klein. Thank you for being friends with my Papa when he needed it most."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"I have memory data of you befriending my Papa on the first day here, and then continuing to support him when he was having trouble throughout the game. I apologize you had to do my responsibility for me, but I am glad that it was you."

"Uh, Kirito? Could you explain how she knows any of that?" he asked, a little dumbfounded.

"It's, along story Klein, for another day."

"Well, alright! Now Yui, you say you have memories of me being with Kirito?' Klein asked.

"Yes. If given time, I can recall almost any significant interaction the two of you have had."

"Wow, that's a neat trick little lady."

"Thank You, Klein." Kirito saw the two smile at each other. Good, things would be pretty difficult if Yui had put off Klein. She may be completely endearing to him, but that may not be true for others.

"Now, you know your parents are two of the strongest players in the game right?" he asked her. She nodded in affirmation.

"Well, that means we need their help to get out of this game, and to get out, we need to beat bosses, so we need them to beat the bosses. Anyway, last week, a group of players discovered this boss room. They reported it, and attempted to run some reconnaissance on the boss. They never made it out." He stopped for a moment to take a breath. Little Yui gasped at him, her hands racing to cover her mouth.

"In response, we got together all the most powerful players for the biggest boss raid we've ever had. We all arrived and were almost instantly overwhelmed. It took all we had, and cost the lives of 14 more players in the battle, but we did manage to defeat it.

"Afterwards, your Papa noticed something. All of us who hadn't already healed were in the yellow health zone. All except Heathcliff, the commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Now, you have to understand, your dad isn't exactly the most trusting person, and after both beating him in single combat, and coming out green against the boss, your dad's suspicions were at an all-time high. He went with his gut and attacked the Commander.

"It paid off, and it was shown that he was an _immortal object._ He revealed himself to be Kayaba, hiding amongst us. The two decided that enough was enough, and began a duel, while Kayaba paralyzed everyone else. They agreed on the terms that if Kirito won, the game would end. We begged him not to accept, but he did on the condition that your mom couldn't kill herself if he lost.

"The two fought, and were pretty evenly matched, but Kayaba tricked him into using a sword skill, which he easily countered. He lifted up his sword and brought it down onto your dad for a killing blow. It would have happened, but your mom, she, she…" He stopped to breathe again. He may not have been close to her personally, but any death he witnessed firsthand was hard for him all the same.

The room was clearing now as the rest of the players were making their way to the next floor. Yui seemed to predict what happened next in his story. Kirito was holding back tears as hard as he could, and was failing.

"She somehow broke the game, and escaped her paralysis. She took the blow, and she, she didn't make it." He stopped to look at her, and saw that she had wet eyes, and a disbelieving look on her face. It looked like she was trying to say something to him, but he beat her to it.

"Wait, wait, hold on. After she was gone your father took her sword and tried attacking Kayaba again, but he ended the duel, with himself as the winner. We thought he would finish your dad off then and there, but he didn't. Instead, he sheathed his sword, and opened his menu. The paralysis wore off, and I sprinted towards them.

"Now, I want you to recall when Kirito and I met on the in game Christmas Event, where your dad gave me the prize? Well, I still had it, and I barely managed to get it triggered in time to resurrect your mom. After I used it he said, 'Ah, you still have the resurrection stone? I'm surprised. Well, with the upper floors open, you'll find her in the Ancient Temple, on floor 80. Oh, and as a sort of apology for how this turned out, here. A consolation prize, if you will. 'and left, giving us with a way to bring you back in a similar way familiars are resurrected. Your dad used it, and now, well here you are.

The three of them were the only ones left in the room. Yui and her dad were hugging each other, and Kirito was crying into her shoulder. Klein had to admit, that saying everything mad it feel like it was more real than he thought before, even as hard as it had been.

This Yui though, she was a lot to take in. He found it really hard to believe that Kirito and Asuna actually managed to find a way to have a family here. However, seeing him hold her like he was, there was no doubt in his mind that they cared deeply for each other, and that was enough for him.

 _Present Day_

Asuna's phone went off again. She checked it, but it was the same number, that she didn't recognize, again. She hit the ignore button again. Now wasn't the time to be answering phone calls anyway. She had just left the theater with her mom, and for once, they actually seemed to be getting along. She didn't want to ruin that by being rude.

"That was enjoyable, don't you agree Asuna?" said mother asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. The character, Teddy Brewster was actually really funny. The whole story was pretty enticing too," she answered.

"See? Just because a story isn't animated, or in a game, doesn't mean it can't be marvelous."

"You're right mother. You're right. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"As you should be. I'd say a mother is always right, but I guess that doesn't apply to just me anymore now, does it?" Asuna stopped walking and stared at her mother.

"What?"

"It doesn't apply to just me anymore. You have this Yui now, right? If the way you talk about her has any meaning, then you have gotten that maternal instinct."

"Yeah, I, I guess I do," she admitted. Her mother grinned at her, and kept walking.

The two began to make their way back to their hotel, walking in a comfortable silence. That was a first for Asuna. It had been a long time since she had spent any time with her mother that wasn't spent in a lecture, anger, or, once or twice, even fear.

After she had finished telling her story to her mom, Kyouko hadn't said a word. All she had done was stand up, walk over to her, and actually hug her. It had lasted for a bit longer than a moment. Afterwards, all she had said was "I'm sorry."

They hadn't said much to each other in the hours since then, they hadn't had to. There was an understanding between them now, one that Asuna had been wishing for since she got out of the game. They were getting close to their hotel, which Asuna had been looking forward to for a while. It was a chilly day, and walking back from the theater wasn't helping. The hotel spa was going to feel so good.

 _Bzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzz, Bzzzzzzz._ She heard her phone go off again. This time, she decided to just let it go. If hitting ignore wouldn't do the trick, then actually ignoring it will. At least that was her plan, but, as usual, her mom trough a wrench in it.

"Aren't you going to get that?" her mother asked, with her eyes darting towards her. Asuna felt a little suspicious, this had to be some sort of trap.

"No, Mother. I'm here with you, I don't need to talk with anyone else. Besides, that'd be rude," she justified.

"And if it's Mr. Kirirgaya?" Asuna stopped in her tracks. Why would her mom even consider him? Granted, she had confessed a lot in the past day, but she thought her mom still disliked Kirito, especially after she admitted they had gotten married.

"Well, you're more important, Mother. If it is him, he can wait."

"Asuna, you know how I detest lying."

"Wh…What do you mean?" she asked, running to catch up wih her mother, "What makes you think I'm lying?"

"I don't think, Asuna, I know. Besides, I have a feeling that specific call is important. Now, check it," her mother demanded.

"Yes ma'am." Asuna stepped to the side of the sidewalk and pulled out her phone.

 **5 missed calls**

 **Kirigaya Household**

"Well?"

"How did you know who was calling?" Asuna asked.

"Lesson 1 of being a mother, Asuna. You know everything and are always right."

 _Kawagoe City_

The waiting room was pretty quiet. Suguha and her mom were sitting in the middle of the room, a parenting book in her mom's hands. The TV was currently being used by Mr. Yuuki, and some of his colleagues. She checked the time again.

9:00 a.m.

The operation was well underway, and Suguha was actually getting bored. Don't get her wrong, she was very excited, more than someone should be at the prospect of their 18 year old brother becoming a dad. Regardless, sitting in the waiting room with her mom was still pretty boring. She checked her phone again. Still no update from Kazuto, so he must still be busy doing…

' _Huh, what is he doing exactly?'_ she wondered. While Kazuto may have explained a lot of what would be happening once Yui was here, he didn't really explain what exactly was being done to bring her into the world. She looked over to her mom, about ready to ask if she knew anything, but decided against it. While she loved her mom, she knew that she wasn't the most technically savvy, or scholarly inclined.

A round of laughter came from the other side of the room. Suguha turned towards the noise. It looked like Mr. Yuuki had said something under his breath that warranted a break in the silence. _'Hmm, maybe they know what's actually happening in the O.R.'_ Her mom just chuckled at the men and returned to her book.

She stood up and began walking over to them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mom giving her a curious look, but didn't stop her. She walked over to the men, and they all turned towards her. Aside from Mr. Yuuki, there was a young man with a thick set of glasses and a black suit, an American looking blonde haired man, and a boy about her brother's age.

All of their eyes were on her, and she suddenly felt a little more subconscious than before. She started looking down towards her feet, but look back up when she heard Mr. Yuuki speak up.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, did we disturb you?" he asked her.

"No, sir. Not at all," she mumbled back in response.

"Oh, then what can I help you with?"

"Well, Sir," she said getting a bit more confidence, "I was hoping someone could tell me exactly what was happening in there. Kazuto didn't tell me much about it."

His eyebrows raised, and he grew a slight grin. "Oh is that all?" he asked. He laughed a little and continued, "Well to be honest, I don't believe we know either. I mean, none of us are actually scientists or doctors. This man right here," he said gesturing to the dark dressed man, "is my bodyguard Motsuba, this here," pointing to the American, "is my sister company's representative, Jordan Prince, and this is Dr. Shepherd's son, Connor." The boy, Connor, was looking a little intrigued by this point, and actually spoke up after being introduced.

"Actually Mr. Yuuki, I could explain it. My dad hasn't stopped talking about it since he got selected to work on this project."

"Really now? Well Ms. Kirigaya, will that work?" She saw Connor looking away from her now, but this was still her best shot. She nodded.

"Sure thing," she responded, taking a seat across from all of them.

"Well young man, why don't you begin, I'm sure we'd all like to hear this," Mr. Yuuki offered, turning off the T.V. and turning his attention towards the boy.

Connor took a deep breath and a sip from his bottle of water before beginning. "Well after the subject was finished growing, and ready for operation she was brought here. The first step today is for Kazuto to begin transferring all of the A.I. data from the device he created into the Medicuboid. To transfer everything safely, without the use of a game state program like the VRMMOs have, takes a long time of code writing and program manipulation." He took a breath and paused.

"Oh, is that what he's doing there now? Because it's been a while, and I've not heard anything from him," Suguha asked.

"Most likely," he answered, "He'll have to basically create a transfer program on the fly for each aspect of her personality matrix and memory files, so that there's no risk of corruption." Suguha knew enough about computers that she was able to make sense of most of what was being said, but the other men already looked pretty lost and confused. She now doubted that this was the first time these men were told of this process, and likely wouldn't stick either.

"Meanwhile, Father and his team will be working on opening up her head and surgically implanting a device that they created based on the full-dive tech. It's designed to send signals into the rest of her mind in order to give it an "artificial" personality. The device is attached to the hippocampus and is designed to begin an ongoing transfer process over the next year, slowly copying all of its memory data into the said hippocampus.

"Once it's in, but before they close the opening, the Medicuboid will be attached to her. Then, all of her data will begin to copy itself onto the implant. At this point, it's a waiting and monitoring game. Once that's done, the Medicuboid will be removed, and Father will close up the wound. Then it's done, and she will be able to be woken up not too long after. Understand?"

Surprisingly, she did. Despite not knowing _how_ most of that worked, she got the gist of it, which is more than can be said for the men sitting next to her.

 _Upstairs_

Kazuto watched as all the 1s and 0s flashed across the screen. This was it. The surgery was just about done, and his fingers had never felt so cramped and tired. He estimated that he had written over 6,000,000 lines of code. Within the course of the 4 hours. O.k. maybe he was exaggerating, but none the less, he'd have to bust out his old carpel tunnel brace after today.

That didn't matter right now tough. The last of the code vanished, and was replaced by the text _error: source code file _U.E._ not found_ repeating itself over and over. He spun his chair around and raced down the stairs. Making a quick trip through the halls, he sprinted into the OR. The nurses helped him sterilize, and he walked into the room just in time to see the Medicuboid removed.

His paced slowed to a crawl as Dr. Shepherd stepped to the side. "We are about to turn off the life support. Now's the moment of truth. If she begins to breathe on her own, your code worked, and she will wake up soon."

"Thanks Doc. Go ahead and switch it off." Shepherd nodded and looked to the nurse at a computer terminal. She got the message, and began the process of shutting down the machinery that had been keeping the body alive since its creation. Kazuto watched as each machine went dark, and the room went completely silent. He turned his attention back to Yui, and walked right next to her. He laid his head down on her chest and just listened.

After what felt like hours, but was really only mere moments, it happened. He felt it before he heard it. His cheek, resting against her chest raised ever so slightly, then fell again. What followed suit was absolute music to his ears, for his daughter exhaled the first breath she ever took on her own. He shot up in excitement, knocking one of the monitors back a few feet.

"I heard it! She did it!"

"What Kazuto? What did you hear?" begged the doctor, a knowing grin quickly growing on his face.

"She breathed. Yui, she, she's alive!"

It was another hour before they all left the OR. Shepherd was thrilled that Yui was capable of breathing, and had a regular heartbeat, but had a series of other tests he had to do in order to make sure that her essential automatic function were operating correctly.

Kazuto watched from her bedside as they poked and prodded her at most of her pressure points and central nerve clusters. He didn't care. He was simply thrilled that he was able to feel the rise and fall of his daughter's breathes.

He was actually sad when they told him it was time to move him. All he wanted to do was keep listening to the sound of her being alive. The feeling passed, however; and a new sense of delight at the thought of Yui waking up in a few hours.

As they walked through the halls, he kept one hand locked with hers. It was warm, something he'd never truly felt when touching her. She also felt really frail, but that was to be expected, considering she'd moved since she was created.

He wasn't too worried about that though. His sister was all too happy to start planning out an aunt-niece training program. She'll have Yui stronger than him if he wasn't careful.

They made it to the recovery room, where his mom and sister were already waiting for them. His mom was resting in a chair, reading a book about teenage parenting. His mom may be confident in his abilities, but she was still his mom. She had her doubts and was, understandably, worried about him. She actually had more confidence in him than he does, or so he believed. He'd have to remember to read that when she was done.

His sister, on the other hand, was actually asleep in one of the chairs. That was odd, they hadn't been in the OR that long, had they? He snuck a peek at the clock when the gurney crossed the threshold into the room. 1400. Huh.

"Gah!" he exclaimed. His mom set her book down, and his sister stirred from her nap.

"Huh? Is Kazuto having another nightmare?" his sister asked, groggily.

"What? N-no! It's just, was I really in there for that long?"

"Don't worry dear. These things take ti…" his mom began, before the sleeping figure being moved to the bed caught her eye. "Oh, my, is, is that her?" The book slid off of her lap, but Kazuto didn't think she'd noticed. A proud grin grew along his face, while his sister shook away herself awake.

"Yeah. That's her. She's finally here. She, she's," he couldn't finish. He felt Dr, Shepherd's hand rest on his shoulder.

"Don't worry son. Go to her. Let your face be the first thing she sees when she wakes up. I'll handle any questions," offered the doc. Kazuto nodded and took a seat on Yui's bed. Shepherd turned his attention towards his family. "Speaking of, do you ladies have any questions?"

The next half hour was spent going over the same information that had been discussed the day before. Her health risks, and the care needed to attend to said risks, advised supplies, routines, and diets were all gone over for the final time before the doc felt that everyone present had been fully and completely briefed. Throughout it all, however, every gaze in the room was directed at Yui.

Shepherd left the room and directed the nurse to page him the moment she awoke. She nodded in affirmation, and he left the recovery floor, leaving the family alone with their new addition.

Midori looked over at her son, and his apparent daughter. It amazed her that she was finally here. Kazuto had been planning this with Asuna's father for months, almost a year now, but it hadn't felt real until this moment.

She stood u and walked over to the bed, examining the sleeping child. Kazuto didn't even notice. His eyes were so locked onto Yui, it was as if a cable was attached to their faces. Midori smiled at the sight. It wasn't too long ago that she was in a similar position, watching over Kazuto. Though, the circumstances weren't as happy as they are now. The more she thought about it, however, the more similar the situations became.

The body hadn't moved in years, and had atrophied as a result. The girl looked healthier than Kazuto did, strangely enough. Looks didn't always tell, though. From what Dr. Shepherd had described, she will be more disabled than Kazuto was upon awakening.

She will have to drink liquid nutrients for a while, which Kazuto had to as well, but he was also able to digest small solid food right away. She won't for over a week. Her cabinet now had several sippy cups and straw lidded cups, and her pantry had several supplements and smoothie mixes within.

She wouldn't be able to walk right away, Kazuto could when he awoke. Her muscles were healthier than his were, but she had never moved physical legs before. It wouldn't take as long for her to be able to begin walking on her own, but still, she'd have to be carried, or pushed for a couple days, at the least. There was a wheelchair in the room, and she had gotten Sugu's old stroller from storage. She hadn't been sure Yui'd even fit, as Kazuto had described her in game avatar as the size of an 8 or 9 year old, but the girl in front of her couldn't be more than 5.

Kazuto and the doctors hadn't mentioned it, but she also believed that she wouldn't be able to make it to the restroom on her own. There was no need for that in the virtual world, and she likely had no concept of it. Midori wasn't looking forward to teaching Kazuto and Asuna how to potty train a child, but believed the sooner she did, the better. No matter, it's all a part of raising a child.

The three of them had been sitting in the room for over an hour now, and not a word had been spoken. In order to break the silence, Suguha asked Kazuto to explain, again, why it was that Yui looked different than she did online. He told her about all the factors that he'd already explained once but this time he added that the body in this world was actually generated from cells form both him and Asuna, whereas her avatar had not. He appreciated the break in silence. It helped relieve the tension in the room.

"Hey, Kazuto?" Suguha began.

"Yeah?"

"How are you going to explain all of this to Asuna?"

"Uhm, well, I was thinking of having her meet me at our usual spot, in the park. It's where we usually discuss things like Yui, our families, our future, that sort of thing," he responded. It just felt like the most logical place. It was peaceful, they both knew it, and Yui had, in a way, already been there before.

He looked up at his family. He saw his mom had a warm smile on her face, looking at him. He felt his cheeks begin to redden, and he turned towards his sister. She was looking up, with a look of consideration, and then approval.

"Good idea bro, but won't she be confused why you'll be holding a little girl?"

"Yeah, but that's where you come in."

"Me? What do I have to do with this?"

"I was, um, hoping that you would watch her, just out of sight, until I'm ready. It'll be a shock, and Yui won't be strong enough to do it on her own in just three days. So what do you say? Help me out?" That was actually his mom's idea. Originally, he was just going to have Asuna walk up to him holding Yui, but Midori had convinced him that it was a bad idea.

He looked for an answer from his sister, but she seemed to have stopped listening. In fact, it looked as though she was looking straight through him. "Sugu? Suguha? You there?" Still no answer, just a misdirected stare. He looked to his mom for an explanation, but she had that same look on her face.

"Papa?" his eyes went wide, and his body went still. "Papa, wha, what's going on?" The voice was weak and raspy, but he knew that voice. Faster than one of Asuna's sword skills he spun around, tears already threatening to escape his eyes.

There she was. Her eyes still closed, now tighter than before, and her little arms shaking ever so slightly, clearly uncomfortable, but there she was. His daughter, alive and in the real world. Her eyes began to open when he finally spoke.

"Yeah, Yui, it's me. It's Papa." She had managed to get her eyes open now, and he threw his arms around her brittle form. "It's me, and it's you, you're here."

"Where, where's here Papa?" she managed, still struggling to even speak.

"Home, Yui. You're here, in the real world!"


	4. Home

**NOTE: If you haven't been here in a while, Ch 3 was posted very recently, so you may have missed it.**

 **Thanks!**

* * *

"You want to WHAT?!"

"It doesn't seem like that complicated of a question, Asuna. If she is so important, that you consider her to be more important than your studies, than I have to make sure it's worth your time."

"But Mom…"

"No buts, Asuna. I'm your mother, and what I say goes."

"Yes, mother," Asuna admitted, defeated. Asuna opened the door to their hotel room. Begrudgingly, she went into her room to retrieve her amusphere. She walked back out to find her mom sitting in an armchair, facing away from her.

"Do you know what that was, Asuna?" she questioned

"What what was?"

"It was your next lesson. No matter how unreasonable your request may seem, there is always a reason, _because I am your mother._ It is a mother's trump card," she spun the chair, and looked surprised at Asuna holding the gear. "What are you doing with that?"

"Well, you need it to go into the world," she began.

"Well, I am aware of that Asuna, but you can't very well introduce me if there's only one device." Asuna was aware of that, but since Kazuto and Suguha weren't answering their phones, despite calling her from their home phone several times, she wanted to go in and see if they were in-game, maybe get some advice.

"I," she began, but just gave in. There was no arguing with her mom. "Fine, you're right, so how do you want to do this?"

"I'll have my assistant go and pick up a second one. In the meantime, why don't you tell me more about her?" her mom suggested. Asuna was a little disappointed, she was actually really missing Yui now, but maybe talking about her would help.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"First off, tell me what she's like? Does she have enough class to be a Yuuki, or is she more like that boy's family? Is she intelligent, driven, intuitive, proper?"

"She's, she's a kid with a computer for a brain. Her mind is childish, playful, and sweet, but her brain is analytical, intuitive, and honest. When we are alone, all I can see is Kazuto's influence, but he says the same thing about me. She's the kind of person who wants everyone around her to be happy, but not at the cost of mine or Kazuto's.

"She is also really defensive of our little family, so any time I talk to a boy, or Kazuto talks to a girl, she pops up, and yells at everyone involved."

Her mom listened intently to her. As much as she dreaded her mother discovering Yui, her finding out has actually led to more good conversations than she's had in a long time. Though Yui's counseling protocols were lost when she was originally deleted, she still seemed to have a recovering effect on people.

She finished talking not long before her mom's assistant arrived with the 2nd amusphere. She spent some time explaining how it worked, and got her setup with the new one on the couch. She already had A.K. Mod loaded up, and had explained how to go about creating her avatar, and loading Kirito's Mod: SAOII. Asuna had to hurry if she wanted to get in-game and warn her family about her mom's coming.

Two minutes later, and she was already loading into the game. She spawned in the beginning of floor 77, where she had left off. She had been trying to play through this section alone, since she was absent from floor 76 to 80, being almost-dead and all.

She pulled up her friends list, and preemptively sent a friend request to the name she had told her mom to use, as most IRL names were taken: Queen Yuuki. In return, she got a message saying _Player not found, message pending_. Good, that meant that she was still I character creation. The message would deliver as soon as she entered the tutorial, and would be able to respond once she exited it.

Scanning the list, she expected to find Kirito or Leafa on there, but neither were showing up. Strange. She thought they must be online, if neither were answering. Were they in another game, perhaps? She didn't have time to ponder before a message popped up from Lizbeth.

 _Hey Girl, Klein just ditched me down on the lower floors, care to grab something to eat at your place? I'll pay for the ingredients if you cook._

 _ **No can do, I have another visitor coming over to meet Yui. Maybe tomorrow. Have you seen Kirito?**_

 _Nope, not since the day before yesterday. Is your cute brother finally coming to meet her?_

 _ **Damn, he won't answer his phone. And no, my mom actually. My dad spilled the beans about Yui, and she demanded to meet her, and I need to make sure everything is up to her standards, and a messy kitchen would not help.**_ She sent her message, closed the chat window **,** and pulled out a teleport crystal sending herself home.

"Yui, Mama's home. I need to talk to you about something," she called out. Nothing, no response at all. She tried again, walking into the bedroom, "Yui? Where are you?" No answer, but this time she heard a clang come from the kitchen. " _Oh, so she's hiding from me? Fine, I'll play her game,"_ she thought. "Oh, darn, my lovely daughter seems to have disappeared. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make sandwiches for one then," she mockingly threatened, walking back into the kitchen.

Someone had obviously been there, there were still temporary graphic stains from food on the counter, which weren't from her. She peeked in some of her cabinets, finding most of them missing several dishes. "Oh no, my dishes have disappeared too. This must be the work of that dastardly boy, Papa. I guess he just doesn't like me anymore," she teased, louder than necessary. Another clang sounded, this one closer, seemingly from beneath the counter.

"AHA!" she shouted, opening the lower cabinets. A mess of dishes spilled out around her, along with a small girl with a dress she herself had bought as a gift, to match the recipient's pink hair.

"Lizbeth? What are you doing here? I told you I couldn't make a mess tonight, now look at this? Oh, and where did you hide Yui?" she demanded, angrily.

"Oww, sorry Asuna," the pinkette said, "When you logged on, I had already prepared it all for you. I was getting ready to text you and ask you to join me."

Asuna huffed, "Fine, whatever, now where's Yui?"

"You mean she's not with you? I figured you had brought her along to the higher floors. She wasn't here when I got here."

"No, that's why I was calling for her."

"Well, if she's not with you, then where is she?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you. Man, my mom is going to think I made her up if she isn't here."

"Don't worry Asuna, I'm sure she's around here somewhere."

"You're right. If her programming has her set as a companion, then she has to be close to where either Kazuto or I last logged out. She wasn't with me when I logged out, so she has to be near where Kirito did. You said you saw him the other day? Where?"

"He and Yui were helping me look for a rare gem in the lake nearby. We came back here and hung out after. He was still here when I left."

"O.k. so she has to be somewhere on this floor. Kirito and I bought mounts recently, we'll split up and look for her. We have to hurry, it won't be long before my mom finishes the…"

 _One new message  
From: Queen Yuuki_

"tutorial, damn it. She just did. O.K. I'll go and get my mom from the Town of Beginnings, you take a mount and see if you can find her."

"Sure thing, I'll do my best, I know how your mom can be."

"Thanks Liz, I owe you one," she pulled out a teleport crystal. "Teleport, Town of Beginnings."

She vanished, leaving Lizbeth there alone. She let out a huge sigh, and pulled up the external messenger.

 _ **Kazuto, you have to tell Asuna something. I don't know exactly where you've moved Yui, but Asuna and her mom are here to meet Yui. I told her I'd look for Yui, but I can't keep stalling for you. I've got maybe 10 min before they are back at your cabin, and not much longer before things get fighty here. Plz help!**_

 _Will do Liz, thanks for your help, btw. I'll send Asuna a message in a couple minutes.  
Oh, and Yui says hi._

Good, she kept her promise to both of them now. She guarded the cabin while he moved Yui to whatever hardware an Interpsychal Biofeeder was, and did in fact find Yui. Well, maybe not in the literal sense, but she knew she was doing something with Kirito. She pulled up the messenger and told Asuna:

 _ **Asuna, I totally forgot, but Kirito mentioned that he was working on some project with Yui, outside this game, sorry. TTYL**_

Before Asuna could even respond, Lizbeth logged off.

Kazuto saw Sugu messing with his phone out of the corner of his eye, but paid no mind to her. Her and his mom walked out of the room to give them some privacy. He was glad, right now the only thing that mattered was Yui. He'd done it. Just as he had promised her when she helped him beat the game, he had managed to bring her into the real world, to be a family.

"Really? H-how?" she managed.

"It's complicated, but we did it. You have your own body, your own mind. Everything. Just as you have been to me and Mama, you're real to the rest of the world now too.

Yui's eyes went wide. "Papa, i-is that true?" she asked, a little stronger, tears beginning to form.

With the biggest smile he had since getting Asuna back, he answered, "Yeah, Yui. It's true. You really are here. For real. No servers, no batteries, no SAO. Just us, a family."

Yui began to really cry full force, and utter, "Oh Papa!" She tried to lift up her arms, but couldn't get them more than a few inches up. Kazuto got the idea, and threw his arms around her frail form, and they began to cry into each other's shoulders.

A couple minutes later, when the waterworks began to slow down, Dr. Shepherd made his entrance. Kazuto had moved to the chair next to Yui's bed, and was holding her hand. Suguha and Midori had settled in onto the couch, giving the two their space.

"Ahem," the doctor began, "Sorry to intrude, but duty calls. Now that Yui is awake, there are some tests we have to run, and I'm sure many questions to answer." He got no response from Kazuto, or the girl, so he walked out and spoke to Midori. Yui and Kazuto didn't seem to even notice his presence. Luckily for him, Midori did.

"Thank you, doctor. What kind of tests?" she asked. Now Kazuto began to calm down, and he had taken notice of the doc.

"Some pretty standard stuff. Firstly, I'll need to remeasure her vitals, her weight, and test her reflexes. The sooner the better, so we can get an accurate dosage for her prescription."

"Which medication again?"

"They're called Anabolic Steroid-stimulants. If my assistants' theories are correct, they should make it so that she'll be able to talk and gain some basic motor controls. In the meantime, I want her to try not to talk, or move around too much. I don't want her getting hurt."

"Understood, I'll let him know." She walked back in, Dr. Shepherd in tow.

"As she walked in, Kazuto spoke up. "Yui? This is my mom, your grandma. We're going to be living with her and your aunt, Sugu." She smiled at the sight of the woman, whom she instantly regarded as family.

"Hi, Grandma, I'm Yui," she said, getting more acclimated with having a physical tongue.

"Hello Yui, It's so nice to meet you. I can't wait to get to know you, but first, the doctor, here needs to do some tests, and get you some energy."

"Hello, Yui. My name is Dr. Alex Shepherd. It's very nice to finally meet you. Now, before you respond, I need you to listen. Your new body is very weak, but we promised we wouldn't make you stay here in this hospital. In order for us to keep that promise, we have to make sure that you're in a state healthy enough to leave, so I need you to not talk, or try to move around until we give you your medicine. Then, we'll want you to talk as much as you want. Deal?"

"Deal," she responded, still smiling.

Over the next half hour, Dr. Shepherd had run every test he possibly could without actually moving her. He sent the results to someone over his tablet.

"Ok, the nurse should be up in just a moment. Once we get in inside you, you should start to feel a lot better almost immediately. You won't be able to walk, that takes practice, but your tongue should stop feeling so heavy, you'll be able to sit up, and even gain enough motor control to move your fingers."

Yui's grin grew immensely then. Kazuto could feel the excitement coming from her. In his mind, he actually believed that he might be more excited for her to be able to move than he was. He stood up, drawing her gaze, bent down, and kissed his daughter on the forehead. He didn't think he had ever been this happy.

The nurse walked in, and Kazuto could feel his and Yui's excitement growing. She added the medicine to the iv drip, and walked back out, saying that she should feel it in about twenty minutes. So, they waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

After what seemed like forever, Yui's impatience got the better of her and she asked, "Has enough time passed?" The two took a moment, before the realization that she had spoken with full strength came. She tried again.

"Passed? Papa, Mama?" she tried, and gasped.

"Papa! I can talk!" she reached her hand over the side of the bed and grasped his hand. He looked down at her hand, back to her, and the two threw themselves at each other, in the most powerful hug either had ever given, with tears from earlier coming back

With Yui able to talk, and sit up now, Shepherd, Midori, and Suguha all walked back in. Midori got a proper introduction, complete with a hug of their own. Suguha revealed herself as Aunt Sugu, or Aunt Leafa, as Yui had known her. Not risking being left out, she gave her niece huge hug too. Dr. Shepherd gave his introduction as well, telling her that he and her dad were the ones who had brought her here. Enjoying the new-found feeling of a hug, she asked for the doc to give her one as well. He obliged, and told her the same information he had told Kazuto and Midori about her physical status.

She was just as curious as the other two had been, though more for clarification's sake. Her Papa had tried to explain all that earlier, while waiting on the nurse, but she didn't really understand it. In truth, she didn't really understand shepherd either, her young brain had memories of knowing petabytes of information, but she couldn't really recall any of the more technical stuff, just her own memories. She managed to get the gist of what it all meant though. He would have to learn to walk, like anybody else, and her vocabulary was reduced, but not completely. She likely couldn't read, which was proving to be true when she tried on the medical equipment labels. She wouldn't be able to taste eat anything yet, only liquid food, which she'd probably need help with as well.

"In short, it'll be very similar to raising any other child, who happens to be able to already talk, and is the size of a 5 year old. Oh and one last thing, as I explained to your father, we had to stop all intake of growth hormones you had, including natural production, to make sure your body was stable enough to survive, so you won't be getting and "older" until about a year from now. Any other questions?" Nobody gave any. "Good, well, we've run our tests, have our data, your grandma has your medication, you seem healthier then we could have imagined. You're ready to go home, Yui."

He left the room leaving the family alone. Midori knew Shouzou should be arriving soon, and didn't want to start leaving before he made his appearance. Suguha was entertaining herself playing with the reclining chair, and Kazuto was just smiling at Yui.

"Papa?" asked Yui, being the first one to break the silence.

"Yeah, Yui?"

"Where, where's Mama?" Uh-oh. He didn't have a good answer for this. He got himself ready to explain however he could, but to his relief, Mr. Yuuki chose that moment to make his appearance.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, poking his head into the room

"Nope," his mom answered, "Kazuto was just getting ready to tell Yui here about where her Mama is."

"Ah, that's a tough one, want me to help?" Kazuto could have kissed him, then and there. If there's one thing he hated, it was disappointing Yui and Asuna.

"Yeah, maybe you should. Thanks Mr. Yuuki," Kazuto thanked. Mr. Yuuki walked over to the bed, and sat on the edge, resting his hand on Yui's leg.

"Hello, Yui. It's very nice to finally meet you," he began.

"Hello, sir. It's nice to meet you too, but who are you exactly?"

He gave a small chuckle, "I'm Asuna's father, but you can just call me Grandpa." Kazuto watched Yui's excitement grow again.

"Hi, Grandpa! It's so nice to finally meet you! This is so exciting, I get to be real, and I get a Grandma and Grandpa, all in one day!"

"Yeah, I imagine so. Well, I hear there's a little lady asking about her Mama, is that right?" Yui smiled and looked away from him, a little shy still, despite her excitement.

"Maybe, there is, could you tell me where she is, Grandpa? I'm a little scared," she admitted. Kazuto pulled her a little closer, holding her tighter.

"Of course, little lady. First, tell me this. If were getting a present, would you want to be told that you were getting one before you could play with it, or have it be a surprise for you after it's ready?" She thought about that for a moment before giving her answer.

"I'd want to be told after. Surprises are nice, and they're fun. Telling someone before is just teasing, and that's mean."

Mr. Yuuki looked surprised at her, he turned to Kazuto and asked, "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said she was smart for such a youngster," he turned back to Yui, "That's very wise little lady, most people would agree with you on that. Well, your Mama is the same.

"Your Papa and I have been working together to bringing you here for over a year now. We wanted to keep it a secret from Asuna, so we didn't tell her. Now, originally we were going to have her here when you woke, but your body wanted to be alive earlier than we thought. She couldn't be here because she is spending some time with her Mama. She gets back in about 4 days, and when she comes home, you'll be here waiting for her, so she will have a wonderful surprise.

"Is that okay?" She stopped and thought about that too. On one hand, she really wanted to see her Mama, with physical eyes for once. On the other hand, if she was on a Mama-Daughter Trip like they had in the game, she wouldn't want to have to come home early.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that. Good idea, Grandpa," she commended.

"Well, hehe, thanks little lady. Now, I have to talk with some very boring people about some very boring details. I'll be by to visit tomorrow. See you tomorrow," he informed, getting up.

"Wait Grandpa!" she exclaimed, sitting up again. He turned and smiled at her, a questioning look across his face.

"Yes my dear?"

"Can you come over here for a moment? It'll be quick, I promise," she assured, patting the right side of her bed.

"I suppose," he allowed, turning to walk over to her. He bent down next to her, asking "Yes?" She threw herself, as well as she could, onto her grandpa, giving him a nice familiar hug.

"Thank you, Grandpa. I love being here so much," she said, as he wound his arms around her.

"Your welcome, Yui. I'm so happy you can be here."

They pulled away and began to walk away, but not without Yui telling him, "I love you, Grandpa." He stopped in his tracks, turned back around, grabbed the side of her head, and kissed her forehead. "I love you, too Yui. More than you know." He let her go and gave one last, "See you tomorrow, little lady."

She responded with, "You too, big guy."

"Come on, Shouzou. I'll walk you out," offered Midori. The two walked out and headed towards the elevator. While waiting for it to arrive, she brought up, "She really makes an immediate impression in you, doesn't she?"

He smiled and looked down to her. "That's an understatement, my lady. I wasn't even just appeasing her when I said that. I've known her for all of six minutes, and I already love the child. What about you?"

"Same. I haven't even exchanged as many words with her as you, but she just has this aura, right? It's as if she was born to have people love her." Shouzou chuckled at her.

"In a way, she was. She was designed to help people who were suffering trauma, and mental illness. That, and my men designed her genetics to be as close to her avatar as possible, while still having Asuna's and Kazuto's features. You, and I, we never stood a chance. She was literally designed to be loved by us," he informed.

"Well if you want to be all scientific, I suppose that's it, but I am more of a spiritual person. I believe that every living thing has an aura that interacts with every other thing, and that hers is just one that makes you love her."

"Let's just agree to disagree then."

"Agreed. But we can agree that she's stolen both our hearts?" the elevator chose that moment to arrive.

"Haha, I suppose. I just hope my wife will feel the same." He stepped into the elevator. "I'll be by tomorrow to check on them. Until we see each other again, I say adieu." The doors closed, and Midori made her way back to the room. Where a nurse was now waiting with discharge papers.

Midori took the honors of filling out the paperwork to have Yui discharged. She'd have to get used to that. Kazuto wouldn't be 20 for a little more than 2 years from now. Until then, at least legally, she was Yui's legal guardian. Next September, Asuna would turn 20, and would be able to legally adopt her. It was only paperwork though. Aside from the bureaucrats, everyone would consider Kazuto, and Asuna, her parents.

Sugu took the honors of getting Yui's wheelchair from the depot, while Kazuto and his mother helped Yui get dressed into a set of clothes, a simple pair of tights and a long red panda face shirt. Admittedly, he was a little uncomfortable with seeing Yui naked, but as he knew from their time in the game, Yui had no problem with it. He'd walked in on her in a bath in the game, but that body was virtual, nothing graphic was generated for her. Here, however, she was an actual girl, and it made him slightly uncomfortable. He pushed past it, knowing that he was a dad now, and would have to give her a bath, get her dressed, and probably more. It was par for the course.

She seemed pleased with the outfit, and didn't seem bothered at all by the events bothering her dad. All she cared about was spending time with her family, as she always did. Midori noticed her son's discomfort, and snickered at it. Typically, new parents had time to get accustomed to it, but that was one downside to adopting. She kept getting reminded about when she had first took in Kazuto, and believed she would continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Suguha returned once Yui was dressed, with Yui's wheelchair in tow. She smiled and asked, "Everybody ready to go?" She got a nod from Kazuto and her mom and a resounding "Yep!" from Yui. "Then let's go!" Kazuto bent down to pick up Yui, who responded with wrapping her little arms around her Papa's neck.

"Aww," Midori sighed. A small blush grew across Kazuto's face, but Yui just giggled at her grandma. Kazuto carried his daughter out of the room, and set her down into the chair. They all began to make their way to the elevator, when Kazuto's phone, which his sister had given back, began to buzz. He pulled it out and saw **Asuna Calling, 6 missed calls**.

"Aww jeez," he whined. That was bad. She hated being ignored.

"Who is it Papa?" Yui asked, seeing her papa had stopped moving.

"Sorry sweetie, I've got to take this. I'll meet back up in a few minutes."

"Let's go, Yui," his mom suggested, "We'll ride the elevator, and meet your Papa downstairs."

"Ok Grandma! Bye Papa." He waved to her, the doors closing, and answered the call.

"Hey, Asuna. What, what's up?"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU ALL DAMN DAY!" He had to pull the phone away to save his ears. Some nurses took notice and shook their heads in amusement. "…THINK IT'S OK TO IGNORE ME ALL DAY? WHAT IF THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY?" He waited a moment to make sure she was done yelling, at least for the moment.

"I'm sorry, Asuna. I really am. I've been too busy to even look at my phone today."

"TOO BUSY? JESUS KIRITO, WHAT COULD BE THAT IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN'T LOOK AT YOUR DAMNED PHO…"

"It's about Yui," he quickly interjected. She stopped yelling as soon as he mentioned Yui. Neither one ever put their own emotions or problems ahead of hers. As soon as one mentioned her, the other stopped and listened. It wasn't an agreement they had, but both had individually decided that they'd always put her first after first losing her. Most couples would abuse that, but neither had yet.

"What about Yui?" she asked, still sounding mad. Kazuto sighed in relief.

"I was working with her in the Audiovisual Bidirectional Communication Probe. I had an idea of using holograms with it, make it so we can see her too." It wasn't lying. He had used it to move her program to the hospital, and the idea of holograms had come up before, just not now.

"Oh," she said, the anger gone in a flash, "Any luck?"

"Well, actually," he began and heard a gasp from the other end, "Hold your horses, Asuna. I'm still working with her, but there may be a surprise waiting for you when you get back."

"A surprise huh? Well good. I was worried. Anyway, could you put her back in-game? My mom wants to meet her."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Right? I was shocked too. She even had a second amu sphere purchased to do so."

"Wow, that's great."

"I know, when can you put her back in?" Uh-oh.

"Um, actually I can't." There was a long silence. "Asuna?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"It's impossible, right now. I can't get into all the details, but I promise, it's going to be fantastic."

"Ugh, fine! I'm not sure what to tell my mom though. This surprise better be great. Give Yui my love."

"I will, I love you."

"Yeah, you too. See you on Friday."

"Bye."

"Bye." She hung up. He let out a long sigh. He hated lying to her, and hated that she wasn't here even more. Originally, Yui would be _born_ about a month from now, when Asuna would be here. He resigned to the fact that she would be thrilled to find real life Yui upon her return. He put his phone away, and took the elevator back downstairs, where the girls were waiting for him.

"Alright, Yui. Ready for your first car ride?" he asked, his huge grin returning.

"You bet!" he took over pushing her chair from Sugu.

"Say goodbye to everyone, Yui," he suggested.

She leaned to the side of her chair to face everyone. "Bye, everyone. Bye nurses, by Dr. Shepherd," she called out. He looked behind him, to see the doc and Yui's nurses wave back at her. He smiled at the sight, knowing his daughter had already captured their hearts, even if all she had given them was a smile. She had that effect on people.

"Hey Papa?" she asked, settling back into her seat.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What's a car?" he chuckled at the question, knowing that many more questions like that were coming.

"You'll see, when we drive one home."

She got her answer when they got to Midori's van. He picked her up again, and Sugu put the chair into the trunk. His mom opened the back door for him, before taking her seat up front. Kazuto set her into her booster seat, and buckled her up. He was really starting to feel like a dad now. It really was the little things.

"Make sure the straps are nice and tight, Kazuto," his mother warned.

"Right." He started pulling each strap until it pressed into her clothes. "Is that too tight?" he asked Yui.

"No, Papa. It feels fine. So, this is a car?"

"Yeah," Suguha answered.

"It's like a moving room," Midori added.

"Oh, interesting." Kazuto closed the door, and took his seat beside her.

An hour and dozens of explanations for Yui later, they arrived at their modest little home.

"Here we are, Yui," said Midori.

"This is it?" she asked, her eyes locking on the house outside the window.

"Yup, here we are," Kazuto answered. He chuckled slightly when Yui pressed her nose up to the window.

"Wow," he heard her mumble. They all began to exit the car, Sugu going around back, and Kazuto going around to get Yui out.

"Come here, kiddo," he said, picking her up. He opted to just carry her for now, and asked his sister to bring the chair into Yui's room. Midori closed all the doors, and took to walking right next to her granddaughter.

"So Miss Yui, what do you think?" she asked her.

"I love it, Grandma!" Said grandmother snickered at the immediate result.

"Really?" Kazuto asked.

"You've only seen the outside," Midori added.

"Well, I love it 'cause it's yours." Kazuto chuckled at the answer.

"Aww, thank you, Yui." She reached to Yui, and rustled her hair, being careful to avoid the stitches. She walked ahead and opened the door for them, letting Sugu pass her.

"Yui," Kazuto began as he crossed the threshold, "Welcome home!" She gasped when they entered.

"Wow! Grandma's house is so big!" she exclaimed.

"Well, it's not that big, and Honey, it's your house too, now. We all live here together. You, me, Sugu, and your Papa. We're all a family."

"Not Mama?" she asked, towards her Papa.

"No, your mom and I are still too young to be living here together."

"Why does age matter?"

"Adult reasons," Sugu piped in.

"Yeah, that," Kazuto agreed. "Anyway, this house isn't actually that big." He needed to change the subject, fast.

"Really?" Yui asked, admiring the living room. "It's so much bigger than the cabin, though."

"True, but our cabin was actually really small. One bedroom, the family room, and kitchen. This house is pretty normal for a real world house. Plus, you saw how big the hospital was, and all those other buildings on the drive home," he suggested.

"Yes, but it's unlikely that people actually reside there. They seem similar to the castles online, filled and populated, but not by true residents. They are more than likely there to serve as locations to conduct business and work."

Midori stopped in her place and began staring at her granddaughter. Yui was oblivious to her grandmother's stares, but Kazuto and Suguha noticed them. "Haha, see Mom? I told you she was a smart kid," Sugu pointed out. Her mom's smile returned.

"Clearly. I just didn't understand how smart. Come on, let's get some dinner started."

"Papa?" Yui asked, after examining the living room.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go see the bedroom now?"

"Sure kiddo. Which one?" Her eyes widened.

"You mean there's more than one!?" she asked, earning a laugh from her dad.

"Yeah. In this world, most people have their own room."

"Really? Why?" she questioned, being carried down the hall.

"Well most people need to have privacy. It's a lot more important in this world." He shifted her weight to one arm, and opened the door to her room. "This is your room, Yui. Just for you." She stared in wonder at it all. Kazuto began to walk around it, showing all of the furniture and parts of the room.

"Your own bed and desk, your own dresser and closet, fully stocked by your Aunt Suguha, and even a rocking chair and bookshelf, so we can read together. It's all for you."

"For me? Really?" she asked, looking in wonder at all she had been given. She wrapped her arms around her dad, hugged him tight, and nuzzled into his neck. "Thank you, Papa. I love it so much," she mumbled into him.

"Of course, Yui. Anything for you." The two took some time exploring the rest of the house, Yui remaining fascinated the entire time. Kazuto was as happy as he had ever been, just spending time with his daughter, even doing such a mundane task.

After a bit, his mother called them in for dinner. He brought Yui in, took his seat at the table, and had Yui sit on his lap. His mom brought over a plate with some spicy sandwiches and set them in front of him.

"Yay! I love these," Yui exclaimed reaching for one. Kazuto reached out and pulled her hand back.

"Sorry Yui, but you can't have these yet," he explained. A look of disappointment came over her face.

"But why? Mama used makes them all the time," she complained.

"Well sweetie, the doctor said not to give you any solid food. I have this smoothie for you, instead," Midori interjected.

"Aww, really? Can't I just try one? Please?" she asked her grandmother.

"Nope, here you go honey," she said, setting a smoothie down in front of her. Yui pouted, her lower lip protruding out. She turned around to her dad, who had a sandwich halfway in his mouth.

"Please, Papa? I want to be like you," she begged. He wasn't sure what to do here, and looked to his mom for guidance. She met his look, and just shook her head. He sighed.

"Sorry Yui, but I bet the smoothie is really good," Suguha interrupted.

Without looking up, Yui asked, "Really?"

"Yeah, definitely," he affirmed. He picked up her cup, and drank some of the smoothie. It didn't actually taste that great, especially compared to his mom or Asuna's cooking. Still, it was important that Yui drank it, so he put on a fake smile, and moaned, "Mm, yummy." He could see that he had piqued her interest. "You want to try it?" He got an unsure nod, and set the straw right to her mouth. She took a drink, and everyone waited for her response. He watched a series of different expressions cross her face before she swallowed.

"It's good. I'm just like Papa." He let out a sigh of relief.

"You sure are, honey," his mom commended.

The rest of dinner went by without a hitch. Yui happily finished her drink, and her grandma handed her a sippy cup of juice to wash it down. For once, Suguha offered to wash the dishes. The other three moved over to the living room, Midori wanted more Yui time before she and Suguha left.

"So Yui, what do you like to do for fun?" Midori questioned, all of them now sitting in the carpet together.

"Well, I mostly just like to spend time with Mama and Papa. When we're together, we spend most of our time doing quests, and exploring. Otherwise, we are with Liz, Klein, Silica, and our other friends."

"O.k. What about when you're alone?"

"Well, I kind of turn myself off. I'm basically asleep until Mama or Papa log on."

"Well, you can't really do that anymore, so let's find some things that you enjoy."

"Good idea, Mom,"

"What kind of things?" Midori had to think about that one.

"Well, we could, um…" Huh. She was actually stumped. "We could uh, um…"

"Yeah?" Yui probed.

"Um."

This went on for some time. Eventually Aunt Sugu came in with the clutch, and brought out an old puzzle. She knew that Yui was a smart enough girl that she'd prefer something more mentally stimulating. Kazuto wasn't a huge fan of puzzles, in fact she found them incredibly dull. Though Kazuto found the "game" mind numbingly boring, he played along, just making Yui happy was enough to satisfy him.

"Look Papa, I can almost see the island," she remarked, looking up from his lap.

"Yeah, Yui. Me too," he added. He checked his watch. 19:15. Good. That meant that he'd only have to sit here for 15 more minutes before the girls left. Once they left, maybe he could convince Yui into doing something that they both could enjoy. Maybe an actual game?

He kept checking his watch, counting down the minutes. "Look, Yui, the river's almost done, see it?" Suguha pointed out.

"Huh?" Yui leaned forward, trying to see where her aunt was pointing. When she saw it she inhaled shortly. "I do, I see it Aunt Sugu. See it Papa?" Kazuto snickered and shook his head. Her excitement was almost palpable. Though he couldn't quite feel the same about such a little thing as a puzzle, but he was on cloud 9 about her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I see it sweetie." He quickly examined the remaining loose pieces. As it was the last piece with any sort of blue, it didn't take very long. As subtly as he could, he guided Yui's attention towards the last piece. It wasn't long before she saw the piece too.

"Oh, oh, Grandma, look. Right in front of you, the last of the river!"

"Hm, oh, look at that. Good eye, Yui," she praised. She picked it up, and just as she was about to put it in, her phone alarm went off. She set the piece in, and pulled out her phone, seeing that she and Suguha had to leave soon.

"What's that Grandma?"

"It's my alarm. Your Aunt Sugu has a competition tomorrow, and we have to drive out of town tonight for it," said grandma explained.

"Sorry, Yui. I wish we could spend more time together, especially since it's your first night, but you know," Suguha added.

"It's alright Aunty. I know how important it is for you. I wish you could stay, but if it's important for you then it's important for me too. Good luck with, whatever it is." Yui encouraged.

"Aww, thank you, Yui. That's so sweet," her aunt returned.

A few minutes later, the ladies had all their bags ready to go. Well, technically, the ladies just had them packed. Midori took her granddaughter and had Kazuto bring the bags and pillows out to the car. Being the stubborn boy that he is, he walked out of the hall with a bag in each hand, equipment around his back, and pillows stacked on the hanging bags in a method similar to Tetris.

"Your dad is a dork," Midori remarked towards Yui.

"Yeah, Papa's silly," Yui responded, laughing at the mass of leather and pillows.

"Kazuto, you know you can take more than one trip, right? You don't need to try and impress anyone," Suguha pointed out.

"Mhr merr merrer irerr rernrer," he mumbled back through the pillows.

"Can you repeat that, bro?"

He leaned his head back a bit. "I said, I'm not trying to impress any-woah, woahhhhhh."

"Papa!" Though Kazuto liked to pretend he had as much balance as his sister, 3 years of lying still left an impression on him, and he lost his balance, then his footing, then his hold on all the luggage. Now instead of a tower of bags and pillows, there was a lump with an arm sticking out the top. A muffled, "I'm Ok," could be heard from it. He pushed himself out of the pile, sporting a three-point crown of feathers attached to the back of his head

Suguha erupted in laughter at her dork of a brother. She even fell over, clutching her stomach. It didn't take long for Yui to join in, uttering "Sorry, Papa," through her laughs. Midori tried to hold off on laughing at her son, but a couple hiccups of laughter managed to escape. She tried to cover her mouth to hide it, but there was no point.

"Great, this is my life now, isn't it? Being ganged up on by three girls who are supposed to be my family," he mumbled to himself.

When the laughter finally died off, save a couple chuckles from Sugu, the two siblings cleaned up the pile and got it all loaded into Midori's car. Kazuto walked back up to the house and took Yui from his mom's arms.

"Alright, you're all set."

"Thanks Kazuto." she turned her attention to Yui, "Now Yui, I'm going to be gone until after you're in bed tomorrow, so I need you to take super good care of your dad for me, alright?" She got a strong nod in response. "Good. I'm sorry that we have to leave so soon, sweetie, I hate to leave you alone on your first night," she said, focusing back on Kazuto.

"It's fine, mom. I'm ready. Besides, Yui and have spent plenty of nights together. We'll be fine, don't worry. Right Yui?"

"Right, Papa. Don't worry Grandma, I'll make sure Papa doesn't get into trouble."

"Who, me? Get into trouble? Never."

Ignoring her son's denial, Midori leaned forward again hugging them both, followed by giving Yui a kiss on the cheek. "If anything happens, or you need any advice, call me immediately. Sugu's driving, so I'll be able to answer no matter what," she informed.

"We've got it Mom, I said not to worry. Say good bye, Yui."

"Bye-bye Grandma. I'll miss you." Midori felt her heart melt. She couldn't believe how much Yui had wormed her way into her heart so quickly, but she had.

"Bye, sweetheart," she said, leaning forward to hug her, again. Kazuto casually pulled away.

"Bye, Mom," he said, doing his best to imply that it was time for her to go.

"Bye, honey." She gave each of them one last kiss on the forehead, and ran down to the waiting car.

Sugu stuck her head and hand out and called out from the car, "Bye, guys, wish me luck!"

"Bye Sugu," he called back, waving his loose hand.

"Bye Aunty," his daughter called, following suit. Suguha sat back down, and began to drive away, one arm still waving out the passenger window.

"Whelp, it's just you and me now, kiddo. What do you wanna do?"

"Um, could we finish the puzzle?" she asked. Kazuto walked back in, kicked the door behind him, and walked back into the living room.

"Actually, I had another idea," he put forward, not wanting to get bored when it was just the two of them. She may not have noticed when the girls were here, but she definitely would now.

"Oh? What's that, Papa?"

"Why don't we try walking?" He may love holding her in his arms, but he had to admit, even for a tiny five-year-old, his arms were already getting tired. He was still, technically, in recovery, and spending so long in-game wasn't doing his body any favors.

"Um, I don't know. Didn't the doctor person say that I wouldn't be able to for at least a week? I mean, if your arms are getting tired, we can use the hospital chair. Plus, you don't have to hold me up if we sit down." She made a good point, and even Kazuto knew that. He knew what Shepherd had said, but Yui had his blood, his genes in her. He managed to walk on his first day post-SAO, he figured they could at least try.

"What? Me, tired? Never. I carried you up a mountain, remember? Besides, I just figured that when Mama gets home, you'd want to run and greet her." He saw the look come on her face as soon as he had mentioned Asuna. It was the same look of determination he saw in Asuna whenever he challenged her. "But, if you don't want to, I suppose we don't have to. You're right, let's just do the puzzle."

"No!"

"Hm? You don't want to do the puzzle?"

"No, I want to walk. I can do it." she explained.

"Good, let's do this!"

Getting her ready to walk wasn't as exciting as he had hoped. He had set her on the couch, while he ran to her room and into her closet. Pulling out a larger tote, he found it. A kid-sized plastic yellow shopping cart. It was one of Sugu's toys from years ago. It wasn't actually intended to help with learning to walk – most 4 year olds could already – but Shepherd had suggested it would do the trick. Large enough for her to stand behind, but not too heavy to move. He carried it back out to Yui.

"Alright, Yui. Walking in the real world is super easy. All you have to do is move one leg in front of the other, one step at a time. The trick, is learning to balance while you do it. That's what this is for. You can grab the handles, and use it to help you balance."

"Alright, let's try." She started to try and scoot forward off the couch.

"Not so fast," he said, gently pushing her back, "First, you've got to stand. We can do that one together. Give me your hands." She obliged, and grabbed his hands (fingers). He lifted her up by her hands, eliciting a squeal from her, and set her on the floor, feet first. Without letting go of her hands, he moved around to her back, and almost lifted her off the floor, leaving her feet still on the ground.

"Ok, Yui. I want you to try and tighten your leg muscles, like you're getting ready to lift them."

"Okay, Papa." He could see her tighten her face, at least, and assumed she was focusing on doing the same to her legs.

"Alright, let's switch to one hand," he suggested, letting her left hand go. She began to wobble a bit, and swung her free arm around, trying to catch some balance. Eventually, her arm stopped flailing. "Look at that, you're getting the hang of this pretty fast."

"Haha, thank you, Papa."

"Ok, you ready? I'm going to let go, all you have to do is keep your weight in the middle, and you should be fine. Ok?"

"Yeah, Papa, let's do it."

"Ok, 1, 2…3!" and he let go. For the briefest of moments, he thought she might do it, but after less than half a second, she fell on her butt. "Yui! You alright?" he exclaimed, clambering to pick her back up. She didn't take his hands, and just sat, pouting, with her lower lip tucked away.

"Yui?"

"I'm sorry, Papa. I just couldn't do it. I tried, but I just…" she was beginning to tear up, the same way Asuna did when she didn't think she was good enough.

Kazuto was quick to comfort her. "Shh, sh, sh, sh. It's alright Yui. I'm not disappointed. Nobody gets it on their first try. It takes most people weeks or even months to get it, and you already have experience doing it. Don't sweat it. Alright?" A quick nod was all the response he got.

"Do you want to stop?" She shook her head, no. "Want to give it another go?" A nod this time. "Ok, good. That's my girl." He gave her a hug, and lifted her back to her feet, helping her stand by holding her hands above her head.

"Alright, let's take this one step at a time," he chuckled at his pun. 1 dad joke down, 16 more years of them to go. "Just lift up your left foot, stretch it, yeah, like that. Now set it down, and lean forward little-by-little, good, good, you're doing it. Now the back leg, there you go, sweetie. Now move your left leg right next to your right. Perfect." It was only two steps, but she had made it to the coffee table. He guided her hands to the table-top, and let her go.

"Whoa, Papa," she started.

"You got this Yui, just put some weight into your hands, yeah, like that. Use it to keep yourself up. Great job!" he praised. While her back was still towards him, he slyly pulled out his phone and started taking a video. "Good job, Yui. You're holding yourself up."

"I am, I am. I'm doing it Papa!" she replied away from him, not confident enough to turn around.

"Great, now see if you can use the table to take a couple steps," he suggested, moving his eyes down to the phone, checking that it was still recording in 4k. In hindsight, he wished he hadn't. If he had been paying attention to how Yui was doing, not what she was doing, he would have seen her legs begin to shake more and more each time she tried to take a step. He looked up just in time to see her collapse, face-first into the ground. "YUI!"

She wasn't hurt, and in light of her failure, wanted to try again. Kazuto called it quits. He didn't want to risk her actually getting hurt just because they were impatient. Though she tried to hide it, he could see relief in her eyes when he said they were done. Looking at the time, he saw that it had only been twenty minutes since the girls left, and Yui had already fallen, twice.

He needed to think of something safe they could do, that they would both like. It was getting close to 8. Maybe she was getting tired? He got his answer to that question almost immediately. Almost as if answering the unspoken question, she let a long stretched yawn. He snickered at it.

"Getting tired Kiddo?"

"No, I got enough sleep during surgery," she argued.

"That wasn't sleep, Yui. You were unconscious. It actually probably made you sleepier than normal. Plus, its almost 8, meaning quiet time is soon."

"Quiet time?"

"Yeah, it's a rule my mom made when I was little. After 8, Sugu and I couldn't play around and be loud. We didn't have to go to bed, but we couldn't be up and about either. Normally, I would play a game with my dad, and Sugu would watch, and pretend she wasn't. That or we watched," Then an idea struck him.

"Watch what, Papa?" Did they still have it? It'd been almost ten years since they'd watched any of them. He had to check.

"Wait here a second, Yui. I have to go check something."

"Ok, Papa." He set her down on the couch, and ran to his mom's room. Being careful not to look into any open drawers, he looked around her closet for the attic pull string. Once found, he climbed up and began a quick search. He saw the Christmas decorations, old boxes of toys-which he made a mental note of-a couple old bikes, some crumbled boxes marked as junk for Kazuto – also noted- before he finally found it. A blue woven basket filled with old movies. Grabbing his find, he descended back down to find Yui rubbing her neck, and licking her lips.

"What's that?" she asked as soon as she noticed him. He set the box down next to her.

"You first," he instructed, taking a seat between next to her. She raised an eyebrow in question. "What's wrong with your neck?"

"I don't know, it feels really dry, and scratchy, like there's something inside, or something missing," she informed, rubbing her neck again. It took him a moment to decipher her meaning, but he did.

"Oh, you're just thirsty. That makes sense. You were working pretty hard, and it's pretty warm out. Tell you what, you look through this basket of movies, and pick out whichever one you think looks the most interesting, ok? Each one has a story to tell, and most of them have some really fun songs too. In the meantime, I'll get you a drink, ok?

"Sure thing, love stories," she happily agreed.

"Me too. Now did you want juice, water, or milk?" Personally, he preferred a cool soda when watching movies, but he didn't want to pique her interest in a drink that will keep her awake longer than she should.

"I don't know. I liked the drink I had with dinner, can I have that?" she asked.

"Of, course, one cup of apple juice coming up." He walked into the kitchen, watching her begin to dig through the basket, looking at all the pictures of the girls and boys on each disk. He smiled at her enthusiasm. Any other kid in the world would be mad if they were offered blue-rays instead of access to uStream. Not Yui, though. The girl was almost too perfect, granted she was designed to be lovable by literally everyone. He took a minute to get her a cup of juice, and some water for him. He walked out with two glasses, and almost announced himself before he realized his mistake. She was barely able to hold onto the cup with a straw without spilling it. If he used a class, more of the juice would wind up on her than in her. Without her noticing, he mumbled a quick, "Whoops," and turned around.

When he came back out, he instead was carrying a bottle of water for him, and a sippy cup with two handles for her. She thanked him, and began to gulp some of it down.

"Slow down there, Ariel. You're going to get the hiccups if you drink too fast. Now did you pick out a movie?" She stopped for a moment, just long enough to point at the one on the coffee table, before falling back against the pillows, still drinking away.

" _Aw man,"_ he thought. She had picked out the movie he had probably seen more than any other in that box. It'd come out when Sugu was 4, and it had instantly become her favorite. It wasn't a bad film, he even enjoyed it at first, he had just seen it as many times as the rest of the box combined.

"You sure you want that one?" She nodded vigorously, and took a break from drinking.

"Yeah, the snowman on the picture reminds me of our first Christmas together." Whelp, now he was convinced. This girl had the gift of always saying the right thing to get what she wants with no argument. Like mother like daughter, he guessed.

"Alright, so long as you enjoy it, I'm happy." He got the movie set-up, turned the lights out, and settled into the couch, where Yui crawled onto his lap, leaning against his back. She laid back against him, and, began to slowly, as per his guidance, suckle on her juice. And for the first time in who knows how long, he truly felt bliss. No worries, no depression, no anger, no confusion, just happy to be with his daughter, like a dad.

Halfway through the film, he began to drift off a bit, still knowing the songs by heart, even after all these years. He was almost asleep, and could feel that Yui was beginning to relax more too. He didn't believe she was going to sleep soon, though. She was still giggling, and humming along to the songs.

Just as he was about to drift away, he felt it. Something wet was spreading around his lap. At first, he thought Yui must have spilled her juice, but with how fast she had drank it, not to mention it being a sippy cup, logic won over that belief. There was no way there was anything left. Was it his water bottle? No, it was on the coffee table. He reached his hand down to where he felt it, touched where it seemed to be, and it took all of three seconds to realize what it was. "Aw, mannnn," he whined, loudly.

* * *

 **Wow, this one was a doosy. It hasn't been long since my last update, and this chapter is over 9,000 words.**

 **Don't get your hopes up on that being a regular trend. I love writing, but I have 3 tests next week, and huge projects the week after.**

 **Please let me know what you think. This chapter was hard to write, and very fun. I enjoy the way I wrote it. and I need to know what yall think.**

 **Thanks as always, Palazard**


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